Allan Day was instrumental in establishing Halton’s first conservation authority

Remembering Allan Day

Burlington Post file photo

In 2006, Burlington’s Allan Day recalled the early days of conservation efforts in the region as Conservation Halton prepared to mark its 50th anniversary. Mr. Day passed away on Dec. 27, weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

Remembering Allan Day

Burlington Post file photo

In 2006, Burlington’s Allan Day recalled the early days of conservation efforts in the region as Conservation Halton prepared to mark its 50th anniversary. Mr. Day passed away on Dec. 27, just weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

Allan Day is being remembered as an even-tempered consensus builder who was instrumental in the formation of what is now Conservation Halton and its development of the Kelso and Hilton Falls conservations areas.

Mr. Day, a longtime Burlington resident, died of natural causes on Dec. 27 at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, just six weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

He was born in Toronto on Feb. 8, 1914 and grew up in the Yorkville area. He moved to Oakville in 1934 and then Burlington in 1976. He spent his last year at the Lakeshore Place retirement residence.

Mr. Day’s wife of 37 years, Dorothy, died in 1973.

"I don’t think I knew someone in public office who was as much a gentleman as
Allan Day was ..." - David Coons, former Halton County councillor

“My dad was like a mother and father to us,” Diane Leblovic, a former teacher, and Halton public school board trustee and chair in the 1990s, said of the relationship between he, herself and her brothers Robert and Ralph.

“He was pretty special. He was a real gentleman, an unassuming gentleman,” she said.

Environmental issues played an important part of Mr. Day’s long and active life.

He spearheaded the establishment of 16 Mile Creek Conservation Authority (now Conservation Halton) in 1957 becoming one of its founding directors and its first secretary.

He also was a director of the Twelve Mile Creek Conservation Authority and later served on the first board of directors for Conservation Halton in 1964.

Mr. Day was instrumental in the then-named Halton Conservation Authority’s acquisition of two of its major properties in the early 1960s — Kelso and Hilton Falls.

He was given Conservation Halton’s Award of Excellence in 1998 and in 1999 received CH’s Ralph Sherwood Conservation Award.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Day had a passion for the outdoors.

He often trekked across the escarpment. He also walked almost daily around Burlington’s downtown for decades up to the last year of his life.

Politics also interested Mr. Day.

He served as a town councilor for Oakville starting in 1956. He also was elected to Halton County Council, the precursor to Halton Region, from 1965-70, filling the roles of reeve, deputy reeve and warden, the latter akin to the chairman’s position.

Leblovic said her father was respected for his thoughtful approach to matters and an even-keeled demeanor.

She recalled an anecdote from his time on Oakville’s town council that illustrated his impact on and dedication to local politics.

“I remember him being dragged out of bed one night to break a tie vote on an important downtown rezoning bylaw. He was home sick with sinus (problems). Two town councilors came by and got him up and got him there (town hall) for the third reading.”

The re-zoning plan was approved.

Longtime Burlington insurance broker David Coons served with Mr. Day on Halton County Council in the 1960s. Coons was just in his mid-20s at the time, about half Mr. Day’s age.

“I don’t think I knew someone in public office who was as much a gentleman as Allan Day was…. He was soft spoken and I don’t think he had a bad word to say about anybody…. He worked toward a consensus. He was well liked by his constituents in Oakville,” said Coons.

The last time he saw Mr. Day was about two years ago when he walked into his insurance office on Brant Street for a chat.

In December 1970, Mr. Day lost to incumbent McLean (Mac) Anderson in a bid to become mayor of Oakville.

Mr. Day’s life came close to being over before it had barely begun. When he was baby, in April 1915, he was aboard the British passenger ship Lusitania that travelled to England. About a month later, on May 7, two ocean crossings later, the Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat killing 1,200 people.

A stickler for detail, a saver and a storyteller, Mr. Day kept a diary of his life going back to childhood. He preserved documents and reminiscences of his time in public life. He almost threw them away but his daughter convinced him to keep three separate albums devoted to his time on the conservation authority, Oakville town council and county council.

“My father was a really organized man,” said Leblovic. “It’s really wonderful for the family to have (the albums).”

She also has his service cap during his time as a Flying Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Mr. Day trained as a rear air gunner and wireless (radio) operator on Lancaster Bombers. He went over to England in January 1945.

Leblovic said her father never saw frontline action but did all the training and developed significant hearing loss due to his wartime duties.

Among her prized possessions is her father’s military service medals and training log book.

Among the interesting tidbits inside it was a reference to him being paid $7 per day while in the RCAF.

She says the family still has the three-dozen postcards he sent home while serving overseas.

Among Mr. Day’s jobs in Ontario was as a young labourer working on improvements to the QEW highway in 1938 at a wage of 30 cents an hour.

Later, he worked as a tanner in Toronto and Oakville, then for 25 years at Air Coils Manufacturing in Oakville and finally for the Halton Centennial Manor retirement home in Milton.

Mr. Day lived at the Churchill Co-op Apartments on Lakeshore Road for 36 years. There he befriended Edith Hawboldt and her husband for about 20 years.

“He was a charming man and so interesting to talk to with all his experiences,” said Edith Hawboldt. “I never saw Allan angry but he was determined. If something needed to be addressed or changed, he would do it, quietly.”

Mr. Day was also a member of the Oakville Legion and the Masonic Lodge and after moving to Burlington worked on a number of seniors support groups.

In a 2006 interview with the Post for a feature story about him, Mr. Day said life was difficult following the death of his wife but that, “I’ve enjoyed my whole life, no regrets whatsoever.”

Besides his three children, Mr. Day is survived by his sister Joan Grant, eight grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren, one great, great grandchild and many nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Mr. Day’s life will be held on Saturday, May 3 at 1 p.m. at Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home, 64 Lakeshore Rd. W., in Oakville.